Directory services may typically be provided using a network server. In order to utilize the directory services, a user may be required to connect to the server and have a user account in order to access the directory service. Additionally, the user may have to trust the server to provide data integrity and data authentication. If the directory service is intended for a smaller group of connected entities, for example an ad hoc network, then creating and setting up a directory server for that ad hoc network may be inefficient. For example, ad hoc networks may typically be transient in nature, and the cost of setting up a dedicated server for short durations and for a small number of users may be too costly, due to administrator time, equipment resource capacity (some server must be reallocated or added), and user time (user may be involved in account creation and setup). Moreover, while server based systems may be common, new serverless systems such as peer-to-peer networks, may provide greater flexibility in creating ad hoc networks because they may not require a dedicated server to facilitate communications. However, to enable secure communications over these ad hoc networks using existing encryption processes, a directory service may be required to facilitate public key exchange that does not rely on a server based model.